Gordon’s win and tonic
His first runner as a trainer was at the Cheltenham Festival five years ago when he sent Brandon Mountain to take his chance in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle. Ridden by Denis O’Regan, the horse was pulled up, but Elliot had laid down a marker. Rather than having his first ever runner take on a nondescript race in Bellewstown, he went straight to the biggest meeting in these islands.
Just over a year later — and still having had no winners in his native land, although he had plundered some big prizes in the UK — he led Silver Birch into the winner’s enclosure at the Aintree Grand National after pulling off a shock 33/1 win with a horse that had been rejected because of ongoing leg problems by the mighty Paul Nicholls yard.
Elliot had arrived – and how.
There was mild panic in the Aintree press room that day, as journalists scrambled to find out more about this Irish handler. Now, though, publicity is of little interest to the stocky 34-year-old who, while always helpful to the media, generally prefers to allow his horses do the talking. At Cheltenham this year, they may well be talking a lot.
“We’ll probably end up with about eight going to Cheltenham; they are eight nice horses, so we’re looking forward to it,” the trainer says.
“I had my first ever runner as a trainer at Cheltenham and that didn’t work out great, but this time round we have a good bunch to bring there and we’re hopeful they can win a few races.”
Elliot is something of an oddity in racing as he was not bred into the business — his family were (and still are) in the car business — but having got a pony when he was 13 and then gone to work with near neighbour Tony Martin, he was bitten by the bug.
He now operates out of a hugely impressive facility on 50 acres at Capranny, a few miles outside Trim and it is from here he has sent out a growing number of successful animals. He has not followed a conventional route and, using his geographically favourable location, has plundered regular prizes in Scotland and England, rather than plying his trade solely in Ireland.
The National success of Silver Birch was an excellent example of this. Bought at the horses-in-training sale at Doncaster out of Nicholls’ yard, the horse was never purchased with Aintree in mind.
Elliot has always been willing to take on a challenge and sending the previously broken down ten-year-old to Aintree for the Grand National in 2007 was probably the best example of his ability to confound wiser counsel.
“His win at Aintree was not by design,” he readily admits. “We bought the horse to go cross-country chasing and the National was probably the last thing on our minds when we bought him. The National was something of an afterthought, but it turned out to be an unbelievable experience and winning it really was a dream come true. While, right now I have a good bunch of horses, a great staff and excellent owners, I’d still have to say winning the National laid the foundation for where we are now. It really put me on the map and I haven’t looked back since.”
Indeed he hasn’t and his victory with Dirar in the Tote Ebor at York last summer was further evidence that Elliot has what it takes to master a variety of challenges.
Top of the list of his Cheltenham raiders this week is the eight-year-old Jessies Dream, currently second favourite for Wednesday’s RSA Chase. Owned by multi-millionaire British businessman David Johnson, who previously had all his horses stabled with Martin and David Pipe in Britain, Jessies Dream is his first Irish-trained horse.
“Jessies Dream was a horse I had and David Johnson bought him from me,” says Elliot. “Undoubtedly it is fantastic to have an owner like him in the yard and luckily for me the whole deal has worked out well.”
The winner of six of his 12 starts, he was beaten last time out at Leopardstown when 4/9 favourite in the Grade 2 Killiney Novices’ Chase. It was a shock defeat, undoubtedly, but Elliot remains unfazed.
“He was probably a bit unlucky but he’s definitely one we can look forward to in years to come.”
The English fancy in the RSA Chase is Time For Rupert, but Elliot reckons he’s beatable. He qualifies that remark by saying he’s not certain it will be his horse which will beat the Paul Webber charge.
“I’m not saying necessarily that our horse will beat him, but our horse is definitely in good form and I think he has a solid each-way chance.”
Asked if he feels – as many trainers do – that the RSA is a horse-breaker, being too speedy and too fraught an affair to be good for novicey chasers, Elliot says that sort of mindset doesn’t register with him at all. “Horses are there to win races,” he comments.
His assertion that he has simply been ‘in the right place at the right time’ clouds the reality that his ability to spot talent and find owners for the stars he’s purchased appears to be second to none. There are, he says, ‘about 60’ horses in training at Capranny, but the secret to keeping the winners coming has as much to do with weeding out unproductive inmates. “You do need fresh stock coming into the yard the whole time,” he says, “and to get winners you have to have new horses, so I enjoy going to the sales and trying to spot potential talent. I also have good people around me advising me. I have people whose judgement I would lean on a little bit, but so far it has worked out for me.”
For many trainers, the current economic climate has been a disaster, but Elliot has an interesting take on matters.
“While a lot of people have been affected by the downturn in the economy, it has not really had an effect on me,” he says. “I was never going well in the good times, so I never really knew how good the good times were. Things are tighter now than they have been, but I was never really flying when the boom years were with us, so I’ve just been keeping my head down and working hard and hopefully that will pay a dividend.”
This week will possibly see that dividend being delivered.
